Atlantic 10 Conference Basketball Fans

Saint Louis vs Dayton Basketball Recap

Saint Louis 71, Dayton 66

Some teams make it very hard for the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee to make clear-headed decisions on Selection Sunday. Others make life very easy for the men who inhabit a war room in the NCAA's Indianapolis offices.

The Dayton Flyers qualify in the latter category, and not for good reasons, either.

The same bumbling ballclub that kept stubbing its toe and bruising its body of work over the past few weeks has fully and finally crashed out of at-large consideration for the NCAA Tournament.

It's really rather difficult - and just about impossible - to imagine how Coach Brian Gregory's group could find a place in the Big Dance as an at-large guest. This team just can't deserve an at-large invite more than other bubble competitors... not after losing four out of its last five regular-season games, and five of its last seven.

Not after losing at home to a Saint Louis club that was not in the NCAA at-large conversation.

Not after falling to 8-8 in the Atlantic 10, good for seventh place in the conference.

Not after absorbing an 11th loss on the season and dropping a rare home game against coach Rick Majerus and the bold, ballsy Billikens.

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The Flyers have to be mad not just because they lost, but because they didn't show up for the start of this game. The A-10's most enigmatic outfit produced a classic clunker in the first half at University of Dayton Arena, scoring just 19 points. The pathetic performance came just a week and a half after scoring only 13 points in the first half of a 49-41 loss against Temple. It's clear that for all their evident athleticism, the Flyers can't produce solid possessions and high-level results at the offensive end of the floor. Instead of having good basketball players who are also athletes, Gregory and the rest of his staff are saddled with really good athletes who have not yet learned how to become very effective basketball players.

Had Dayton played better in the first 20 minutes, the home team just might have stopped Saint Louis in its tracks. Dayton rallied in the second half and used a 9-0 run to pull within two points of the Billikens, at 58-56, with 2:38 left. The building became electric, and after being AWOL for most of the proceedings, the Flyers suddenly had a legitimate chance of stealing one from Saint Louis.

However, the Billikens battened down the hatches in the final few minutes. Kwamain Mitchell scored on a driving layup, and after a Dayton turnover, SLU's Christian Salecich nailed a dagger of a 3-pointer to make the score 63-56 with 1:37 left. The party was over in Dayton, and unless the Flyers win the A-10 Tournament, they'll most certainly land in the NIT.

That's not what some once-high Flyers had in mind for their postseason destination.

By: Matt Zemek
A10-fans.com Staff Writer